THE  WORK  OF 
CONGREGATIONAL  MISSIONS 
IN  PAPAL  LANDS 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  AMERICAN  BOARD 
CONGREGATIONAL  HOUSE,  BOSTON,  MASS. 

1909 


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TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


What  Went  Before 

Secretary  E.  E.  Strong 

The  Mission  in  Spain 

Secretary  E.  E.  Strong 

The  Mission  in  Austria 

Miss  Frances  J.  Dyer 


* 


PAGE 

3 

6 


15 


The  Mission  in  Mexico 

Secretary  James  L .  Barton 


24 


WHAT  WENT  BEFORE 


IN  the  missionary  awakening  of  one  hundred  years  ago  the 
eyes  of  Christians  turned  toward  Pagan  and  Mohammedan 
peoples.  It  was  many  years  later  when  attention  was  called 
to  the  lands  where  a  perverted  form  of  Christianity  was  prevalent. 
There  were,  however,  a  few  independent  societies  which  early 
sought  to  reach  particular  districts  under  the  sway  of  the  Papal 
Church.  In  the  year  1849  three  societies,  the  American  Protes¬ 
tant,  the  Foreign  Evangelical  and  the  Christian  Alliance,  having 
the  same  great  object  in  view,  were  merged  into  one  organization, 
called  “The  American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union.”  The  pur¬ 
pose  of  the  organization  was  thus  stated  in  Article  II  of  its  con¬ 
stitution  : 

“The  objects  of  this  society  shall  be  by  missions,  colportage, 
the  press,  and  other  appropriate  agencies,  to  diffuse  and  promote 
the  principles  of  religious  liberty  and  a  pure  and  evangelical  Chris¬ 
tianity  both  at  home  and  abroad,  wherever  corrupt  Christianity 
exists.” 

There  were  many  difficulties  in  the  way  of  cooperation  among 
those  of  different  confessions,  but  the  society  was  composed  of 
devout  men  and  large-hearted  Christians  who,  whatever  diversi¬ 
ties  existed  among  them  on  matters  of  minor  importance,  held 
firmly  to  the  great  principles  of  evangelical  faith  which  mark  the 
Protestant  Church  from  its  beginning. 

The  first  Annual  Report,  presented  in  1850,  shows  that  the 
work  of  this  American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union  was  princi¬ 
pally  done  within  the  United  States,  many  different  classes  of  peo¬ 
ple  having  been  reached, —  Spaniards  in  Texas,  French  at  New 
Orleans  and  in  New  York,  Germans  in  New  York  and  Wiscon¬ 
sin.  It  maintained  a  mission  in  Canada,  Hayti,  Chili,  Sweden,  Ire¬ 
land,  Belgium,  Hungary  and  Italy,  and  its  receipts  were  given  as 

[3] 


$58,885.  The  organization  prosecuted  its  work  with  good  success 
for  many  years,  scattering  evangelical  literature,  and  employing 
colporteurs  and  preachers  wherever  they  could  find  promising 
openings. 

Twenty  years  later,  about  1870,  there  came  to  be  an  impression 
that  this  work  for  the  Romanists  in  our  own  and  in  foreign  lands 
might  better  be  conducted  by  missionary  organizations  that  were 
not  solely  directed  against  adherents  of  the  papacy.  The  churches 
that  were  asked  to  support  an  evangelical  work  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  countries  of  Europe  could  not  see  why  the  society  en¬ 
gaged  in  foreign  missions  could  not  conduct  work  in  those  lands 
as  properly  and  as  efficiently  as  it  could  missions  in  Turkey  or  In¬ 
dia;  in  our  own  land  the  various  home  missionary  organizations 
could  reach  the  people  of  the  many  nationalities  coming  from 
Roman  Catholic  countries  better  than  could  a  society  specially 
organized  to  reach  these  classes.  There  was  also  much  criticism 
of  the  methods  which  were  employed  in  conducting  the  missions 
under  the  Christian  Union,  in  that  they  savored  too  much  of  at¬ 
tacks  upon  the  opinions  and  practices  of  those  who  had  erroneous 
views,  rather  than  endeavors  to  enlighten  and  conciliate  them. 
This  feeling  led  to  a  lack  of  support  of  the  Foreign  and  Christian 
Union,  and  later  to  a  withdrawal  of  a  large  portion  of  the  Congre- 
gationalists. 

The  American  Board  was  then  urged  to  take  over  the  work  of 
the  Congregational  churches  in  papal  lands.  The  officers  of  the 
Board  were  not  desirous  of  assuming  this  work,  but  the  pressure  on 
the  part  of  the  churches  became  so  great  that  at  the  meeting  of 
the  American  Board  in  Salem  in  1871  action  was  taken  upon  a 
memorial  presented  by  a  committee,  of  which  Governor  Bucking¬ 
ham  of  Connecticut  and  Dr.  Joseph  P.  Thompson  of  New  York 
were  prominent  members.  This  memorial  urged  the  American 
Board  to  be  ready  to  enlarge  its  operations  by  extending  its  work 
in  nominally  Christian  lands  and  by  forming  missions  in  Europe, 
South  America,  and  other  foreign  lands,  as  God  in  his  providence 
should  open  the  way.  Reference  was  made  to  the  fact  that  the 

[4] 


Board  was  already  conducting  work  among  nominally  Christian 
people, —  the  Nestorians,  the  Armenians,  and  others.  After  much 
deliberation  the  Board  voted  to  establish  missions  in  papal  lands 
as  the  providence  of  God  should  open  the  way. 

It  was  understood  that  the  taking  up  of  this  new  branch  of  work 
would  involve  added  annual  expenditure  for  the  Board  of  at  least 
twenty-five  or  thirty-five  thousand  dollars.  It  was  agreed  that  a 
special  offering  for  this  object  should  be  asked  from  the  churches. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  special  offering  was  not  made  save  by  a 
few  churches,  and  by  those  churches  for  no  long  period. 

Brief  sketches  of  the  missionary  work  accomplished  in  these 
three  countries  follow  in  this  pamphlet.  Mention  should  be 
made  of  an  attempt  to  open  a  mission  in  Italy,  which  was  first 
proposed  as  one  of  the  countries  to  be  occupied.  Extensive  corre¬ 
spondence  was  had,  and  an  honored  pastor  from  the  United  States, 
Rev.  Walter  S.  Alexander,  was  sent  as  missionary.  Rev.  Dr.  H.  N. 
Barnum,  on  returning  to  the  Eastern  Turkey  Mission,  was  deputed 
to  examine  the  situation  in  Italy;  and  Dr.  L.  H.  Gulick,  who  first 
went  to  Barcelona  in  Spain,  was  transferred  for  a  time  to  Florence. 
After  full  conference  with  the  Waldensian  Christians  and  with 
churches  which  had  been  established  by  the  American  and  Foreign 
Christian  Union,  and  by  other  bodies  working  independently,  it 
was  found  that  the  hopes,  which  were  never  very  sanguine,  of  es¬ 
tablishing  work  in  that  kingdom  were  not  to  be  realized.  The 
methods  of  the  American  Board,  which  called  for  a  large  measure 
of  self-support  in  connection  with  self-government,  did  not  seem 
possible  of  application  among  the  Italians,  who  had  been  accus¬ 
tomed  to  aid  little  in  the  support  of  the  evangelical  work  among 
them.  Various  independent  bodies  were  pressing  into  the  newly 
opened  kingdom,  and  seemed  ready  to  carry  on  the  work.  There 
was  evident  danger  of  overlapping  and  of  interference.  After  a 
serious  attempt  to  inaugurate  a  mission,  it  was  deemed  best  by 
those  on  the  ground,  as  well  as  by  the  officers  of  the  Board  at  home, 
just  then  facing  a  serious  financial  problem,  to  suspend  this  un¬ 
dertaking,  and  the  missionaries  withdrew. 

[5] 


THE  MISSION  IN  SPAIN 


HE  mission  in  Spain  was  begun  in  1872,  the  first  mis¬ 


sionaries,  Rev.  Luther  Halsey  Gulick,  M.D.,  and  Mr. 


1  William  H.  Gulick,  with  their  wives,  sailing  from  Boston 
Dec.  17,  1871.  These  men  were  sons  of  Rev.  Peter  J.  Gulick,  one 
of  the  earlier  missionaries  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  Dr.  Luther 
Gulick  having  been  a  missionary  for  some  years  in  Micronesia 
and  Mr.  William  Gulick  having  acquired  the  Spanish  language 
during  a  sojourn  in  South  America  for  three  years. 

At  that  time  Spain  could  hardly  be  said  to  be  open  to  evangelical 
missionaries,  though  the  revolution  of  1868  had  introduced  a  new 
era,  and  by  vote  of  the  Spanish  Cortes  a  new  constitution  had  been 
adopted,  which,  while  binding  the  nation  to  the  support  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  yet  promised  religious  liberty  to  natives 
and  foreigners.  But  this  legal  assurance  of  religious  liberty  did 
not  avail  against  the  bitter  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities,  and  intolerance  was  shown  by  a  great  mass  of  the 
people.  After  careful  examination  it  was  determined  to  open  two 
stations  in  the  northern  half  of  Spain,  and  Dr.  L.  H.  Gulick  chose 
Barcelona,  a  city  in  the  northeastern  section  of  the  kingdom,  hav¬ 
ing  a  population  of  200,000,  while  Mr.  William  Gulick  settled  in 
Santander,  a  city  of  20,000  inhabitants,  on  the  northwest  coast,  on 
the  Bay  of  Biscay.  At  the  beginning  little  could  be  accomplished 
in  the  way  of  public  meetings.  The  missionaries  were  busily  en¬ 
gaged  in  perfecting  themselves  in  the  language.  Small  schools 
were  established,  although  the  people  feared  to  allow  their  chil¬ 
dren  to  come  in  contact  with  the  Protestant  missionaries,  and  or¬ 
ganized  efforts  were  made  to  prevent  the  success  of  these  schools. 
Much  religious  literature  was  scattered,  and  prejudices  were  to 
some  extent  disarmed  by  the  kindly  Christian  bearing  of  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  and  those  who  listened  to  them.  It  was  with  no  little 


[6] 


difficulty  that  a  place  for  worship  was  secured;  finally,  at  San¬ 
tander,  a  room  40  ft.  long  x  30  ft.  wide,  which  had  been  used  as  a 
storeroom  for  fish,  was  found  in  the  second  story  of  a  double  house, 
and  fitted  up  for  a  chapel.  The  walls  and  ceilings  were  white¬ 
washed  ;  unpainted  pine  plank  benches  and  an  unpainted  table 
for  a  desk  were  used;  here  the  little  congregation  gathered,  and 
the  services  were  often  interrupted  by  stones  thrown  through  the 


windows,  some  of  them  as  large  as  a  man’s  fist.  Though  these 
demonstrations  reduced  the  size  of  the  congregations,  yet  there 
were  some  who  were  faithful  in  coming,  and  in  a  few  hearts  the 
truth  found  lodgment.  In  1873  Dr.  Luther  H.  Gulick  and  wife 
were  transferred  to  Italy  in  view  of  what  was  deemed  a  special 
call  to  commence  a  mission  in  that  kingdom;  the  same  year 
another  brother,  Thomas  L.  Gulick,  with  his  wife,  joined  the  mis¬ 
sion,  and,  after  visiting  many  districts  in  Spain,  in  1876  finally 

[7] 


settled  upon  Zaragoza,  a  city  some  two  hundred  miles  southeast 
of  Santander,  as  the  best  location. 

During  these  early  years,  while  the  missionaries  were  subjected 
to  many  indignities  from  the  people,  which  they  took  patiently, 
they  were  cheered  by  many  incidents  showing  the  eagerness  of 
some  hearts  for  better  spiritual  food  than  they  had  heretofore  re¬ 
ceived,  affording  abundant  proof  that  the  gospel  was  needed  by 
the  people  of  Spain.  One  incident  may  be  mentioned  of  a  com¬ 
pany  of  basket-makers  from  a  village  in  the  Cantabrian  Mountains, 
who  came  each  summer  to  Santander  to  prosecute  their  trade,  and 
who  were  brought  into  the  Protestant  service  by  a  member  of  the 
church,  a  shoemaker.  There  they  found  the  truth  which  satis¬ 
fied  their  spiritual  longings,  and  after  their  summer’s  work  they 
returned  to  their  mountain  village,  where  they  met  regularly  for 
prayer  and  the  reading  of  the  Bible. 

After  many  delays  and  disappointments  the  First  Evangelical 
Church  in  northern  Spain  was  organized,  April  9,  1876,  at  San¬ 
tander,  with  seventeen  members.  The  church  was  speedily  en¬ 
larged  by  the  addition  of  twenty-three  new  members,  and  the  con¬ 
gregations  greatly  increased  in  size.  In  September  of  the  same  year 
a  church  was  organized  at  Zaragoza  and  two  flourishing  schools 
were  opened.  All  this  while  open  hostility  was  manifest  on  all 
sides.  The  Roman  clergy  did  not  cease  to  preach  against  the 
Protestants  and  to  warn  their  people  of  terrible  dangers  and  pen¬ 
alties  they  would  incur  if  they  listened  to  the  new  teachers.  The 
members  of  the  churches  were  jeered  at  as  they  passed  through  the 
streets,  and  their  place  of  worship  was  not  infrequently  stoned. 
One  case  may  be  mentioned  as  illustrating  the  means  employed  to 
hinder  the  gospel.  One  of  the  Christian  women,  being  very  ill, 
desired  the  presence  of  her  pastor,  who  came  frequently  to  see  her; 
the  priest  insisted  on  coming  too,  against  the  wish  of  the  woman 
and  of  her  family.  But  just  before  her  death  this  priest  came  with 
a  policeman  and,  though  the  family  protested,  he  administered  ex¬ 
treme  unction  to  the  woman,  who  was  too  far  gone  to  make  any 
protest.  The  family  arranged  for  the  funeral,  to  be  conducted  by 

[8] 


their  pastor,  the  .following  day;  again  the  official  with  police¬ 
man  came,  and  seized  the  body  and  carried  it  away.  The  friends 
protested,  but  to  no  avail.  Later  the  family  was  summoned  to  court 
for  having  offered  resistance  to  the  authorities,  and  the  pastor  was 
sent  to  prison  for  ten  days  for  interfering  with  the  worship  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion. 

Another  illustration  may  be  given  of  the  temper  of  the  authori¬ 
ties  and  of  many  of  the  fanatical  people  against  whom  our  mission¬ 
aries  had  to  contend.  At  the  village  of  Unzue,  a  few  miles  from 
our  outstation  of  Pamplona,  the  home  of  a  Christian  widow  was 
beset  by  a  mob  for  seven  successive  nights,  both  her  house  and  that 
of  a  neighbor  being  stoned  and  many  bullets  flattened  against  the 
walls.  Mr.  T.  L.  Gulick,  with  a  native  evangelist,  Don  Eulogio, 
went  to  comfort  the  people  so  beset;  after  ministering  as  best  they 
could  to  them,  they  returned  to  the  railroad  station,  and  while 
entering  the  car  were  fired  upon  from  behind  a  wall  only  twelve 
feet  away,  two  of  the  bullets  passing  within  a  few  inches  of 
Mr.  Gulick’s  head.  As  by  a  miracle  both  Mr.  Gulick  and  the 
evangelist  escaped  with  their  lives,  and  later  claimed  protection 
from  the  authorities;  but  little  or  no  attention  was  paid  to  their 
representations,  and  no  reparation  was  made  to  those  whose 
houses  were  left  uninhabitable. 

It  is  simply  true,  during  these  first  years,  as  our  missionaries 
affirmed  at  the  time,  that  the  nature  of  their  work  “was  a  battle 
with  a  powerful,  subtle,  and  unscrupulous  foe.”  Nevertheless,  the 
record  at  the  end  of  ten  years  from  the  commencement  of  the  mis¬ 
sion  shows  that  there  were  connected  with  the  two  stations  six 
outstations;  two  native  pastors  and  seven  native  preachers;  three 
churches,  with  215  members;  a  boarding-school  for  girls,  with  eleven 
pupils;  and  a  total  of  209  scholars  in  their  schools. 

Removal  to  San  Sebastian. 

In  November,  1881,  it  was  decided  to  remove  the  station  and  the 
Girls’  School  from  Santander  to  San  Sebastian,  near  the  border  of 
France,  and  on  the  direct  line  from  Madrid  to  Paris.  The  change 


[9] 


was  effected  to  the  advantage  of  the  mission.  At  this  time  Miss 
Susie  Richards  had  joined  the  mission  and  was  associated  with 
Mrs.  Gulick  in  the  care  of  the  Girls’  School.  To  the  great  loss  of 
the  mission,  Rev.  T.  L.  Gulick,  on  account  of  protracted  ill-health, 
was  obliged  to  withdraw,  and  he  and  his  wife  returned  to  the 
United  States.  There  had  been  under  his  care  at  Zaragoza  a  train- 
ing-school  for  men,  which,  though  small  at  the  beginning,  gave 
promise  of  supplying  preachers  and  evangelists  for  work  through¬ 
out  the  kingdom.  Since  his  withdrawal  in  1883,  owing  to  insuffi¬ 
cient  missionary  force,  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  re-open  that 
school. 

Notwithstanding  the  depleted  force  of  the  mission,  it  became 
manifest  that  the  work  had  taken  a  deep  hold  in  many  places,  and 
in  the  report  of  1884  no  less  than  twelve  outstations  were  men¬ 
tioned,  in  most  of  which  there  were  growing  congregations.  Among 
these  places  were  Bilbao,  Pradejon,  Tauste,  Pamplona,  Reus, 
Tarragona,  Cervera,  and  Pont  de  Armentera.  The  Girls’  Board¬ 
ing  School  at  San  Sebastian  increased  its  numbers  greatly,  having 
on  its  rolls  sixty-four  pupils.  The  influence  of  this  school  was  most 
apparent,  disarming  the  prejudices  of  the  people,  and  the  motives 
of  the  missionaries  were  better  understood  and  approved;  and 
while  ecclesiastics  continued  to  frown  upon  the  movement,  large 
numbers  of  the  people  and  a  good  portion  of  the  public  press  ap¬ 
plauded. 

In  1885  a  union  of  the  churches  of  the  mission  was  formed  with 
the  title  “Union  Ibero  Evangelica.”  This  visible  union  helped  much 
in  the  development  of  a  healthful  spirit  of  independence  among 
the  churches.  In  1887  it  was  reported  with  gratitude  that  in  no  one 
of  the  fifteen  places  where  the  mission  was  established  had  there 
been  any  conflict  with  the  civil  authorities. 

While  located  at  San  Sebastian  the  Girls’  School  prospered.  In 
1887  Miss  C.  H.  Barbour  took  the  place  of  Miss  Richards  in  the 
school;  in  1890,  Miss  Anna  F.  Webb,  and  in  1892,  Miss  Alice  H. 
Bushee  and  Miss  Mary  L.  Page  were  added  to  the  staff.  The  school 
assumed  such  prominence  that  it  seemed  desirable  to  provide  a 

[10] 


building  and  equipment  which  would  enable  it  to  have  a  perma¬ 
nent  home  and  facilities  for  higher  education.  A  corporation  was 
formed  in  1892,  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  tak¬ 
ing  the  name  of  “The  International  Institute  for  Girls  in  Spain,” 
its  purpose  being  to  raise  funds  for  an  academic  building  and  to 
provide  for  holding  property  in  Spain  according  to  the  laws  of  that 
country. 

Removal  to  Biarritz. 

The  next  important  change  in  the  history  of  the  mission  was  at 
the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the  war  between  Spain  and  the  United 
States,  in  1898.  Prior  to  this  there  had  been  no  signs  of  unfriendli¬ 
ness  toward  the  missionaries  as  Americans,  yet  the  mission  felt  it 
was  necessary  to  be  ready  for  whatever  might  occur,  and  two  days 
after  war  was  declared  the  missionaries,  with  the  entire  boarding- 
department  and  teaching-force  of  the  school,  took  train  from  San 
Sebastian  for  Biarritz,  France,  about  an  hour’s  ride  by  rail.  Their 
departure  was  marred  by  no  unpleasant  deed  or  word,  and  the 
transference  to  a  foreign  country  was  made  without  the  loss  of  a 
pupil;  all  was  going  on  as  usual  on  April  26  in  the  new  quarters, 
the  change  having  been  accomplished  in  two  days.  The  govern¬ 
ment  interposed  no  objection,  and  during  the  months  that  fol¬ 
lowed  not  one  of  the  parents  asked  to  have  his  daughter  returned 
to  him.  During  the  whole  stay  of  the  school  at  Biarritz  no  ill 
feeling  was  manifest,  and  the  work  went  forward  uninterruptedly. 

An  incident  connected  with  the  war  may  have  had  something  to 
do  with  the  allaying  of  antagonisms  between  Spaniards  and  Amer¬ 
icans.  After  the  defeat  and  capture  of  the  Spanish  forces  at  San 
Juan  and  Santiago,  Admiral  Cervera  and  the  large  number  of  pris¬ 
oners  were  taken  to  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  and  there  they  were  min¬ 
istered  to  in  many  ways  by  Mrs.  Alice  G.  Gulick,  who  providen¬ 
tially  was  in  the  United  States  on  furlough  at  that  time.  Her 
knowledge  of  the  Spanish  people,  and  her  perfect  use  of  their 
language,  made  her  a  most  welcome  visitor  at  the  camps  of  these 
prisoners,  and  the  facts  of  her  work  were  speedily  reported  by  the 

[ll] 


prisoners  to  the  friends  at  home.  There  could  be  no  feelings  of 
hostility  or  resentment  where  such  kindness  had  been  shown;  and 
since  the  return  of  the  school  to  Spanish  soil,  and  its  establishment 
at  Madrid,  in  1903,  there  has  been  no  occasion  to  report  signs  of 
ill-will  directed  to  the  mission  as  such  or  because  of  the  nationality 
of  those  conducting  this  work.  During  the  five  years  at  Biarritz 
the  number  and  progress  of  the  students  were  entirely  satisfactory. 
Many  of  these  pupils  were  matriculated  at  the  University  of  Mad¬ 
rid.  It  is  said  that  the  percentage  of  high  marks  obtained  by  the 
pupils  is  the  largest  ever  obtained  by  any  group  of  students  coming 
from  outside. 


At  Madrid. 

In  1902  a  large  estate  was  purchased  in  Madrid,  admirably 
suited  for  the  purposes  of  the  Institute,  and  the  work  of  reconstruc¬ 
tion  of  the  buildings  was  begun;  but  before  this  work  was  com¬ 
pleted  an  irreparable  loss  was  sustained  by  the  mission  in  the  death 
of  Mrs.  Alice  G.  Gulick,  on  Sept.  14,  1903.  Mrs.  Gulick  had  been 
the  moving  spirit  of  the  school  from  the  beginning,  and  by  her  in¬ 
telligent  planning  and  her  indomitable  energy  and  faithful  care  the 
work  was  begun  and  carried  on,  with  the  purpose  of  giving  to  the 
girls  of  Spain  an  education  based  upon  highest  ideals  of  Christian 
faith  and  love. 

The  first  class  of  five  graduated  from  the  school  in  1881,  receiv¬ 
ing  diplomas;  but  they  were  not  of  great  value,  inasmuch  as  only 
those  diplomas  granted  by  government  institutions  were  recog¬ 
nized  in  Spain.  Mrs.  Gulick,  therefore,  planned  a  five  years’  course 
for  such  girls  as  were  willing  to  present  themselves  for  examination 
before  the  government  institution  at  Madrid.  Four  girls  finished 
this  five  years’  course  in  1894,  and  astonished  the  professors  and 
other  friends  at  the  Madrid  University  by  their  proficiency,  receiv¬ 
ing  the  degree  of  B.A.,  proving  both  the  intellectual  abilities  of  the 
students  and  the  competence  of  their  teachers.  The  school  earned 
not  only  its  right  to  exist,  but  won  the  confidence  of  the  Spanish 
people  to  a  remarkable  degree. 


[12] 


During  the  thirty-three  years  since  this  school  was  opened  by 
Mrs.  Gulick  there  have  been  enrolled  (although  the  records  of  the 
earlier  periods  are  quite  imperfect)  no  less  than  314  pupils;  of  these 
at  least  eighty-five  have  been,  or  still  are,  teachers.  It  is  estimated 
that  at  least  15,000  Spanish  children  have  come  under  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  these  teachers,  beside  many  hundreds  of  adults  who  have 
been  taught  in  night  schools.  Who  can  measure  the  good  that  has 
been  done  among  the  Spanish  people?  These  facts  indicate  the 
prominent  place  which  this  school  has  had  in  the  missionary  work 
of  the  American  Board  in  Spain.  Its  new  building  begun  in  1904, 
occupied  in  some  portions,  has  not  been  entirely  finished.  It  is 
about  ninety-five  feet  square,  divided  into  classrooms  and  various 
rooms  for  college  work.  It  has  a  hall  in  which  large  assemblies  can 
be  gathered.  In  1906  the  Corporation  deemed  it  best  to  make  a 
well-defined  separation  between  the  work  of  the  Institute  and  that 
of  the  Woman’s  Board,  and  this  has  been  done  so  that  the  work  of 
the  latter  body,  which  is  carried  on  by  appointees  of  the  American 
Board  and  the  Woman’s  Board,  is  known  as  “The  Normal  and 
Preparatory  School  for  Spanish  Girls,”  leaving  the  name  of  “The 
International  Institute  for  Girls  in  Spain”  to  the  school  which  is 
under  the  sole  direction  and  support  of  the  Corporation. 

At  the  present  time,  1909,  the  Faculty  of  the  Normal  and  Pre¬ 
paratory  School  consists  of  Miss  Anna  F.  Webb,  Directora;  Miss 
Alice  H.  Bushee,  Miss  Mary  L.  Page,  Miss  May  Morrison,  and 
Miss  Bertha  Howland. 

The  Corporation  of  the  International  Institute  has  appointed 
Miss  Elizabeth  M.  Gulick  as  its  Directora. 

In  a  review  of  the  work  of  thirty-seven  years  since  the  Board’s 
mission  was  begun  in  Spain  we  must  express  gratitude  to  God  for 
what  has  been  accomplished.  Had  the  missionary  force  been 
larger  the  results  would  certainly  have  been  much  greater.  The  na¬ 
tive  pastors  have  been  faithful  and  devoted.  The  people  are  poor, 
but  they  have  clung  to  their  new-found  faith  with  a  tenacity  that  is 
beyond  all  praise.  It  is  manifest  that  evangelical  Christianity  has 
become  a  permanent  institution  in  the  country,  and  that  the  dis- 

[13] 


trict  occupied  by  the  American  Board  in  northern  Spain  recognizes 
the  power  of  the  Protestant  faith. 

Figures  cannot  tell  the  story  of  what  has  been  accomplished  and 
of  all  the  influences  that  are  now  at  work  for  good ;  but  the  follow¬ 
ing  statistics  can  be  given  as  to  the  Board’s  mission  in  Spain  at  the 
beginning  of  1909:  1  ordained  missionary;  4  single  women;  1  sta¬ 
tion;  16  outstations;  8  organized  churches,  with  a  membership  of 
320  and  a  Sunday-school  membership  of  1,035;  4  native  ordained 
pastors;  3  unordained;  25  teachers;  and  904  enrolled  as  under 
Christian  instruction. 


[14] 


THE  MISSION  IN  AUSTRIA 

Bohemians  in  the  United  States. 

GROUPED  in  several  colonies,  of  which  one  called  “Pil- 
sen”  is  the  largest,  are  100,000  Bohemians  in  Chicago, 
making  it  the  third  largest  Bohemian  city  in  the  world. 
Its  three  largest  breweries  are  in  the  hands  of  these  foreigners,  and 
three  daily  newspapers  are  printed  in  their  language,  besides  con¬ 
siderable  other  literature,  much  of  it  decidedly  infidel  in  character. 
Three  hundred  Bohemian  societies  teach  infidelity  and  maintain 
Sunday  schools  in  which  the  attendance  ranges  from  thirty  to  three 
thousand.  The  catechism  used  contains  this  question:  “What 
duty  do  we  owe  to  God  ?5  The  answer  is:  Inasmuch  as  there  is 
no  God,  we  owe  him  no  duty.”  In  Cleveland  are  45,000  more 
Bohemians.  Several  other  thousands  have  settled  on  the  East  Side 
in  New  York  City,  and  are  engaged  chiefly  in  cigar-making  Lesser 
numbers  are  found  on  farms  in  the  West.  New  Prague,  Minn.,  is 
the  center  of  a  large  and  prosperous  agricultural  community. 

In  view  of  their  presence  among  us  in  such  large  numbers  it  is 
natural  to  ask,  Who  are  these  people  ?  What  are  their  character¬ 
istics  and  history?  What  is  their  environment  in  the  Old  World  ? 
What  causes  drive  them  from  home,  a  land  that  tourists  find  full  of 
charm  ?  Why  do  they  easily  become  infidels  ?  What  are  we  doing 
for  them  here  ?  The  last  question  can  be  answered  in  full  by  the 
Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society.  Two  of  its  ablest  work¬ 
ers,  Rev.  E.  A.  Adams  and  Rev.  H.  A.  Schauffler,  had  their  train¬ 
ing  in  Austria,  and  therefore  possessed  the  immense  advantage  of 
being  familiar  with  the  language.  These  aliens  cling  to  their 
mother  tongue  more  tenaciously  than  most  immigrants.  Signs  of 
American  conquest  in  their  homes  here  multiply  in  the  shape  of 
stuffed  parlor  furniture,  plush  albums,  lace  curtains,  and  a  piano 
or  organ  —  for  they  are  a  very  musical  people;  but,  as  Rev.  E.  A. 

[15  1 


Steiner  says,  “It  takes  more  than  a  carpet-sweeper  to  wipe  out  the 
love  of  that  language  for  which  Bohemia  has  suffered  untold  ag¬ 
ony.”  These  words  suggest  a  stormy  national  history. 

The  other  questions  propounded  can  be  answered  only  by  study¬ 
ing  these  people  in  their  own  land.  So  we  shall  gain  a  new  concep¬ 
tion  of  the  superb  faith  on  the  part  of  the  American  Board  in  start- 


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>ARAD  h’* 


ing-.a  mission  in  Austria,  and  a  clearer  judgment  of  its  reflex  influ¬ 
ence  here  in  the  United  States. 

In  the  Land  of  John  Huss. 

In  1872  a  missionary  force  of  three  men,  with  their  wives, — 
Rev.  and  Mrs.  E.  A.  Adams,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  H.  A.  Schauffler,  and 
Rev.  and  Mrs.  A.  W.  Clark, —  started  for  Austria  to  work  among 
the  fifteen  and  a  half  millions  of  Bohemians  in  that  polyglot  em¬ 
pire.  It  is  nominally  a  Christian  land,  and,  two  hundred  years 
before  the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth,  was  a  stronghold  of  Prot- 

[16] 


estantism,  under  the  preaching  of  the  famous  reformer,  John  Huss. 
The  small  stone  house  in  his  native  village  of  Husinetz,  where  he 
was  born  in  1369,  is  still  standing.  One  may  enter  the  very  room 
of  his  birth  and  see  in  the  wall  a  couple  of  shelves  where  the  boy 
kept  his  few  books  before  leaving  his  humble  home  to  enter  Prague 
University.  There  he  became  dean  of  the  Theological  Faculty, 
and  began  to  preach  with  great  boldness  against  the  errors  and 
corruptions  of  the  Roman  Church.  This  was  a  hundred  years  be¬ 
fore  Luther’s  day.  For  two  centuries  his  teachings  bore  rich  fruit; 
but  in  1620  came  a  terrible  persecution,  which  crushed  out  Prot¬ 
estantism  and  drove  two  thirds  of  the  population  to  a  cruel  death, 
or  into  exile.  All  Protestant  Bibles  and  books  were  burned,  thus 
depriving  the  nation  of  a  large  and  rich  literature.  The  Catholic 
religion  was  forced  upon  them,  and  they  were  also  oppressed  by  a 
despotic  government.  The  bitterness  of  such  experiences  entered 
into  their  lives  and  colored  their  subsequent  history.  The  year 
that  marked  a  new  era  of  freedom  for  America  sounded  the  death- 
knell  of  religious  liberty  for  Bohemia. 

This  group  of  missionaries  took  up  their  abode  in  Prague,  the 
capital  and  the  seat  of  the  oldest  university  in  Europe.  It  is  a 
picturesque  city,  sometimes  called  the  “hundred -towered”  on 
account  of  its  many  buildings  with  curious  turrets,  spires,  and  lofty 
towers.  They  found  themselves  among  a  people  enlightened  and 
cultured,  but  spiritually  dead  and  in  the  grip  of  superstition 
and  infidelity.  Both  the  State  Reformed  and  the  Lutheran  Churches 
taught  only  a  formal  observance  of  religion,  and  the  corrupt  lives 
of  the  priests  exerted  a  baleful  influence.  Both  churches,  and  the 
government  as  well,  maintained  an  openly  hostile  attitude  towards 
the  new-comers.  Nothing  daunted  by  such  an  unfriendly  atmos¬ 
phere,  they  secured  a  place  for  holding  meetings,  and  one  day,  in 
December,  1873,  announced  that  on  the  following  Sunday  a  Bible 
lecture  would  be  given  on  the  theme,  “Loving  One  s  Neighbor. 
This  notice  was  according  to  local  requirement,  but  the  chief  of 
police  scornfully  refused  to  allow  any  such  service.  A  deadly  po¬ 
litical  feud  existed  —  and  still  exists  —  between  Germans  and  Bo- 

[17] 


hemians,  and  this  makes  it  difficult  to  start  any  public  meeting 
without  a  suspicion  that  it  is  to  further  political  ends. 

At  length  permission  was  grudgingly  granted  to  hold  services, 
but  only  at  the  home  of  the  missionaries,  and  with  invited  guests. 
A  police  officer  was  always  present  to  watch  the  proceedings,  and  a 
fee  was  also  exacted.  At  one  time  Mr.  Clark  casually  remarked  that 
he  supposed  there  would  be  no  objection  to  singing  hymns.  The 
official  doubted,  but  yielded  the  point  when  reminded  that  the  right 
of  singing  was  freely  exercised  by  every  drunkard  in  the  bar  rooms. 
Once,  at  the  funeral  of  a  little  child,  a  policeman  interrupted  the 
exercises,  saying,  In  the  name  of  the  law  I  call  upon  you  to  cease.” 
Not  a  word  was  allowed  either  at  the  house  or  the  grave,  except  the 
Lord  s  Prayer.  From  the  outset  much  dependence  was  placed 
upon  the  distribution  of  Christian  literature,  but  Austrian  legislation 
punishes  with  fine  or  imprisonment  any  person  who  is  guilty  of 
giving  away  a  single  tract.  Colporteurs  are  not  allowed  to  sell 
books,  but  only  to  show  samples  and  take  orders.  Thus  the  work 
of  evangelization  had  to  be  carried  on  with  great  caution,  and  in 
the  face  of  vexatious  interference  on  the  part  of  the  authorities. 
This  was  endured  without  formal  remonstrance  for  several  years; 
but  at  a  meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  at  Basle,  in  1879,  a 
deputation  was  chosen  to  take  an  appeal  to  Emperor  Francis  Jo¬ 
seph.  It  was  intolerable  that  the  Reformed,  Lutheran,  and  Mo¬ 
ravian  Churches  should  enjoy  religious  liberty  under  the  govern¬ 
ment  and  this  free  church  be  granted  only  a  right  to  worship 
in  a  private  house  with  invited  guests,  and  under  police  surveillance. 
The  result  of  that  appeal  relieved  the  situation  somewhat,  but  at 
no  time  has  the  Austrian  field  been  an  easy  one  to  till  for  the  Master. 

Standing  Alone  in  a  Great  Nation. 

In  spite  of  difficulties  and  petty  persecutions,  the  work  went 
steadily  forward,  and  in  June,  1880,  this  brave  band  of  pioneers 
had  the  joy  of  organizing  the  Free  Reformed  Church  of  Bohemia, 
with  twenty-six  members,  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Clark.  In  writing 
home  to  America  he  said  of  those  early  converts,  “Ah,  dear  friends, 

[18] 


you  little  know  the  struggle  it  costs  some  souls  here  to  stand  up  for 
Christ  and  his  truth!”  According  to  Roman  Catholic  ideas,  in 
leaving  that  church  they  become  heretics,  and  as  such  are  shunned 
by  their  old  friends.  They  are  boycotted  in  business  and  often  lose 
good  positions  in  allegiance  to  their  faith.  Under  such  circum¬ 
stances,  is  it  strange  that  the  number  of  converts  is  small  ?  But 
the  success  of  any  undertaking  must  be  measured  by  its  influence 
as  well  as  by  numbers.  Judged  by  that  standard,  the  Austrian 
Mission  fully  justifies  the  wisdom  of  its  founders. 

Mr.  Schauffler,  who  began  his  missionary  career  as  an  instructor 
in  Robert  College,  at  Constantinople,  was  stationed  at  Briinn  in 
Moravia.  He  remained  there  until  1881;  then  came  to  America  to 
become  superintendent  of  Slavic  work  in  the  United  States,  to 
which  he  devoted  the  remainder  of  his  useful  life.  He  died  Feb. 
15,  1905,  and  the  Schauffler  Missionary  Training  School  in  Cleve¬ 
land,  O.,  is  a  noble  memorial  to  one  who  served  his  generation  with 
rare  fidelity  and  achieved  honor  on  two  continents.  Mr.  Adams, 
after  ten  happy  years  in  Prague,  came  to  Chicago  to  minister  to 
the  rapidly  increasing  Bohemian  population  there.  The  service 
rendered  by  himself  and  all  the  members  of  his  family  to  these 
strangers  in  a  strange  land  has  been  of  inestimable  value.  In  1907 
he  withdrew  to  enjoy  a  well-earned  rest,  leaving  in  charge  a  native 
Austrian,  Rev.  Anton  S.  Donat.  Some  of  the  best  helpers  in  this 
country  are  those  converted  in  their  own  land  through  the  influence 
of  the  American  Board  missionaries.  During  one  period  of  five 
years  the  mission  in  Austria  contributed  six  men  as  preachers  to 
the  Bohemians  here,  and  four  women  for  ministry  among  their 
sisters  in  the  New  World. 

The  departure  of  these  two  brethren  left  Mr.  Clark  standing 
alone  in  that  great  empire  of  Austria-Hungary,  and  for  ten  years 
he  and  Mrs.  Clark  held  the  fort  at  Prague  without  reinforcements. 
Brave  soldier  that  he  is,  for  he  served  in  the  Union  Army  during  our 
Civil  War,  he  wrote  home,  “Work  does  not  break  men  down  half 
as  rapidly  as  does  the  cutting  down  of  estimates.”  At  the  end  of 
ten  years  they  were  gladdened  by  the  coming  of  Rev.  and  Mrs. 

[19] 


John  S.  Porter,  who  are  still  there.  In  1886  he  started  the  first 
\ .  M.  C.  A.  in  Austria,  with  seventy  members.  He  made  three  un¬ 
successful  attempts  before  official  approval  was  secured;  and  even 
then  every  reference  to  the  Bible  and  to  faith  had  to  be  eliminated 
in  the  papers  of  application.  Now  branches  can  be  established  in 
any  part  of  the  kingdom  where  our  mission  has  as  many  as  ten 
members.  This  is  an  immense  concession.  The  scattering  of 
men  belonging  to  these  Associations,  through  emigration,  has  led 
to  similar  organizations  among  Bohemians  in  Winnipeg,  Canada, 
and  in  ten  of  the  United  States.  Largely  through  the  efforts  of  Mrs. 
Clark,  a  society  for  the  rescue  of  young  girls  was  started  in  Prague, 
the  only  one  of  its  kind  in  the  empire.  Yet  the  need  of  a  home  for 
their  protection  is  appalling.  The  number  of  illegitimate  births 
annually  in  Prague  alone  is  3,000.  There  are  hundreds  of  licensed 
prostitutes  in  the  city,  besides  thousands  who  support  themselves 
by  similar  degradation  and  sin.  In  Vienna  forty  per  cent  of  the 
children  are  illegitimate,  yet  the  moral  conscience  of  the  city  seems 
scarcely  touched  by  the  colossal  evil.  Other  societies  for  the  uplift 
of  the  community,  such  as  Y.  W.  C.  Associations  and  C.  E.  So¬ 
cieties,  came  into  existence  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Clark.  Another  helpful  auxiliary,  though  not  connected  with  our 
mission,  is  the  Krabschitz  Institute,  for  girls,  a  tiny  bit  of  “Mt. 
Holyoke  in  Bohemia.”  It  would  attract  little  attention  here,  but 
there  it  is  the  only  school  which  provides  moral  and  religious  train¬ 
ing  for  young  women. 

Work  at  some  of  the  outstations  has  peculiar  interest.  Tabor, 
for  instance,  is  an  old  walled  city  founded  in  1420,  two  hundred 
years  before  our  ancestors  reached  Plymouth  Rock.  The  Amer¬ 
ican  Board  was  the  first  to  resume  gospel  preaching  there  after  an 
interval  of  more  than  260  years.  Here  Mr.  Clark  found  a  young 
clerk  named  John  Musil,  who  became  a  believing  disciple,  and  is 
to-day  pastor  of  a  Congregational  church  in  Cleveland,  O.  Another 
interesting  spot  is  Husinetz,  the  birthplace  of  Huss.  Our  mission 
chapel  there  stands  just  back  of  his  house,  and  in  the  very  garden 
where  he  played  when  a  boy.  Many  pilgrims  and  tourists  visit  the 

[20] 


place  and  drift  into  the  chapel.  Still  another  place,  Budweis,  is 
notable  for  the  conversion  of  Rev.  Philip  Reitinger  and  his  sister, 
both  efficient  workers  here  in  the  United  States.  At  the  famous 
Haystack  Centennial  Meeting  of  the  Board  at  Williamstown,  in 
1906,  he  told  a  thrilling  story  of  the  way  he  was  saved  from  suicide 
by  Dr.  Schauffler,  and  said,  “Had  it  not  been  for  the  messenger  of 
the  Cross  whom  you  had  sent  over  the  sea  into  Bohemia’s  priest- 
ridden  masses,  instead  of  standing  before  you  to-day,  saved  by  the 
grace  of  God,  the  Moldau  River  in  Bohemia  would  be  my  grave, 
and  my  soul  lost  forever.”  He  spoke  of  three  other  of  his  country¬ 
men,  born  into  the  new  life  in  Moravia,  who  are  missionary  pas¬ 
tors  in  Iowa  and  South  Dakota,  and  asked,  “Were  the  money  and 
labor  spent  in  vain  ?  ” 

In  the  Land  of  the  Czar. 

If  our  mission  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Canada,  on  the  west 
by  the  Dakotas,  and  on  the  south  by  Texas,  it  is  bounded  on  the 
east  by  Russia,  a  land  which  presents  a  wonderful  opportunity  for 
sowing  the  seeds  of  gospel  truth.  Just  as  the  early  disciples  who 
“were  scattered  abroad  went  everywhere  preaching  the  word,”  so 
the  tide  of  emigration  that  carried  members  of  Austrian  Y.  M.  C. 
Associations  to  Canada  and  the  United  States  swept  them  also  into 
the  land  of  the  Czar.  One  of  these  young  men,  Mr.  Prochazka, 
went  as  a  clerk  to  Lodz,  in  Poland,  and  found  himself  in  the  midst 
of  a  population  of  about  200,000  Bohemians.  He  began  by  in¬ 
viting  other  clerks  in  the  same  office  to  his  room  on  Sundays,  to 
sing  hymns  translated  from  the  English.  Before  long  some  of  the 
fathers  and  mothers,  who  heard  of  this  praise  service,  asked  leave 
to  attend,  and  presently  a  deep  religious  interest  was  awakened 
throughout  the  community.  He  sent  for  Secretary  Adlof,  of  the 
Prague  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  to  come  to  his  assistance,  and  finally  gave  up 
his  clerkship  to  become  pastor  of  the  first  church  made  up  of  his 
countrymen  in  Lodz.  Two  more  congregations  and  another  pastor 
have  since  been  added.  He  started  a  Christian  paper  in  their 
language,  to  which  the  government  raised  no  objection  whatever. 

[21] 


A  Bible  store  has  been  opened,  and  six  colporteurs  are  in  the  field. 
One  who  speaks  four  languages  sacrificed  a  good  place  in  a  fac¬ 
tory  to  give  himself  to  God’s  work  in  Russia.  Mr.  Clark,  who 
superintends  the  colporteurs  in  behalf  of  the  National  Bible  So¬ 
ciety  of  Scotland,  considers  this  branch  of  missionary  effort  as  vastly 
important.  He  cites  the  case  of  one  family  who  bought  an  old  Bo¬ 
hemian  Bible  from  one  of  his  agents,  and  then  pored  over  its  pages 
till  eight  sons  and  daughters  were  converted,  all  of  whom  are  now 
engaged  in  Christian  work. 

Secretary  Strong  of  the  American  Board  puts  the  pertinent  ques¬ 
tion:  “Why  may  not  this  movement  of  our  mission  in  Poland  be 
made  as  effective  for  the  Polish  emigrants  to  America  as  our  mis¬ 
sion  in  Bohemia  is  efficient  for  reaching  the  Bohemians  in  the 
United  States  ?”  Already  there  are  two  million  Poles  in  this  coun¬ 
try  of  whom  423,000  are  in  Pennsylvania,  129,000  in  Massachusetts, 
and  250,000  in  Chicago.  “These  people  are  certainly  worth  our 
thought.  Americans  should  not  forget  Copernicus  and  Kosciusko.” 

Then  and  Now. 

The  church  which  started  in  the  home  of  Mr.  Clark  with  twenty- 
six  members  now  has  more  than  three  hundred,  and  is  the  mother 
of  twenty-three  other  churches,  each  with  its  Sunday  school,  and 
several  showing  various  forms  of  Christian  activity.  They  reached 
self-support  in  1894,  it  being  the  policy  of  the  American  Board  to 
lead  people  to  independence  as  rapidly  as  is  safe  and  practicable. 
The  earnestness  and  self-sacrifice  of  these  people  in  giving  puts  us 
to  shame.  Out  of  their  limited  resources  their  benevolent  contri¬ 
butions  average  three  dollars  a  year  per  member.  A  part  of  their 
foreign  missionary  offering  goes  to  support  a  native  worker  in 
China.  The  first  meetings  for  worship  were  held  in  a  hired  room. 
Now  there  are  substantial  church  edifices,  and  the  mission  holds 
real  estate  valued  at  several  thousand  dollars,  of  which  a  large  part 
was  raised  by  the  people  themselves.  A  new  Gospel  Hall,  with  a 
seating-capacity  of  eight  hundred,  has  recently  been  erected  in 
Prague,  at  a  cost  of  $20,000  given  by  friends  in  Scotland.  This 

[22  ] 


fine  building  is  of  inestimable  value  in  locating  and  housing  our 
missionary  work,  and  impressing  the  people  with  a  sense  of  its 
permanence.  Mr.  Adams’s  first  sermon  was  preached  to  scarcely 
a  corporal’s  guard  in  his  own  parlor.  When  he  visited  Prague 
after  an  absence  of  seventeen  years  he  addressed  three  crowded 
congregations.  A  living,  witnessing  church  has  been  planted  and 
is  steadily  growing.  A  good  degree  of  religious  freedom  has  been 
secured,  and  obstacles  apparently  insurmountable  have  been  over¬ 
come.  The  masses  have  been  roused  from  their  long  lethargy,  and 
the  stagnation  of  ages  is  past.  There  is  scarcely  a  town  in  Bohemia 
that  has  not  a  higher  standard  of  morality  and  a  more  enlightened 
conscience,  at  the  beginning  of  this  twentieth  century,  through  the 
influence  exerted  by  our  Austrian  Mission. 


[23] 


THE  MISSION  IN  MEXICO 


SINCE  the  American  Board  gave  up  its  work  among  the 
Indians  of  North  America  all  its  missionary  operations 
have  been  carried  on  outside  of  the  American  Continent, 
with  the  exception  of  its  mission  in  Mexico,  begun  in  1872. 

The  Republic  of  Mexico  is  a  much  larger  country  than  most 
people  realize.  It  covers  nearly  764,000  square  miles,  which  is 
more  than  the  combined  areas  of  England,  Germany,  France,  and 
Spain,  or  nearly  as  much  as  that  section  of  the  United  States  lying 
east  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Three  days  are  required  upon  the 
fastest  express  trains  to  cross  the  country  from  north  to  south.  The 
coast  line  of  the  republic  is  nearly  6,000  miles  long.  It  abounds  in 
great  forests  of  valuable  timber,  and  is  also  rich  in  minerals.  Mex¬ 
ico  is  for  the  most  part  a  vast  table-land,  with  an  elevation  of  from 
3,000  to  8,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea;  it  is  here  that  its  prin¬ 
cipal  cities  are  located  and  the  great  majority  of  its  population  is 
found. 

Mexico  has  a  population  of  about  14,000,000,  nearly  one-half  of 
whom  are  of  pure  Indian  descent  from  the  aboriginal  occupants  of 
the  country;  about  1,000,000  are  of  pure  Spanish  origin;  with  per¬ 
haps  five  times  that  number  of  mixed  blood.  The  Spaniard  repre¬ 
sents  the  most  polite  society,  but  the  mixed  races  comprise  the 
dominating  class,  who  occupy  places  of  public  trust  and  are  lead¬ 
ers  in  commercial  and  educational  enterprises.  At  the  present 
time  the  tendency  among  the  Mexican  people  is  to  magnify  the 
value  of  Indian  lineage,  while  there  is  little  cordiality  toward  those 
who  are  of  full  Spanish  descent. 

The  language  of  the  country  is  Spanish,  although  there  are 
large  numbers  of  Indians  among  the  mountains  of  the  northwest 
and  in  the  central  portions  of  the  country  who  live  in  a  most  prim¬ 
itive  manner  and  speak  only  their  native  Indian  tongue.  There  is 

[24] 


no  color  line  in  Mexico,  and  one  sees  in  school,  sitting  upon  the 
same  bench,  fair-haired,  blue-eyed,  delicate-complexioned  children 
and  black-eyed,  straight  dark-haired,  swarthy  descendants  of  the 
Indian.  The  one  shows  plainly  his  northern  origin,  while  the  Indian 
stamp  is  evident  upon  the  features  of  the  other.  All  else  being 
equal,  the  Indian  child  has  a  better  chance  of  success  in  Mexico 
than  his  more  delicate-featured  companion,  the  general  opinion 


prevailing  that  he  is  the  rightful  possessor  of  the  soil  for  which  his 
fathers  fought  and  died.  The  Indian  stock  is  sturdy,  and  when 
properly  trained  is  capable  of  great  achievement,  as  Mexican  his¬ 
tory  plainly  reveals. 

In  Mexico  to-day  one  finds  almost  every  grade  of  civilization, 
from  the  rude,  wild,  and  nearly  naked  savage  to  the  most  refined 
and  polished  gentleman.  The  masses  of  the  people  lie  between 
these  two  extremes.  The  Mexican  has  the  reputation  of  being  im- 

[25] 


provident,  deceptive,  indolent,  sensual,  giving  little  thought  to  moral 
questions  and  possessing  little  initiative. 

The  government  of  Mexico  is  a  republic,  called  “The  United 
States  of  Mexico.”  The  constitution  was  promulgated  in  1857, 
and  is  a  model  of  its  kind.  Even  to  the  present  time  President  Diaz 
has  continued  as  the  first  and  only  president,  having  been  re¬ 
peatedly  elected  as  his  own  successor.  Under  his  guidance  as  pres¬ 
ident,  if  not  dictator,  Mexico  has  gradually  become  a  country  of 
order  and  law.  An  educational  system  has  been  developed,  trade 
has  been  most  materially  increased,  and  general  prosperity  pre¬ 
vails.  In  the  public  school  system  the  country  is  endeavoring  to 
reach  the  excellence  attained  by  the  United  States.  Compulsory 
education  has  been  adopted,  and  many  of  the  modern  improved 
methods  of  teaching  have  been  introduced.  Only  a  part  of  the 
children  of  the  republic,  however,  are  reached  by  its  public  edu¬ 
cation  system,  which  it  will  require  a  generation  or  more  to  per¬ 
fect  and  to  make  available  for  all  parts  of  the  country. 

Roman  Catholicism  claims  about  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the 
population,  although  it  is  recognized  by  those  familiar  with  the 
country  that  these  claims  are  considerably  exaggerated.  There  are 
large  sections  of  the  republic  where  there  are  no  priests,  churches, 
or  religious  services  from  one  year’s  end  to  the  other.  The  church 
seems  to  have  lost,  in  a  large  degree,  its  hold  upon  the  more  intelli¬ 
gent  classes;  and  even  among  the  common  people  everywhere  may 
be  found  many  who  complain  of  and  ridicule  the  practices  of  the 
church  and  the  lives  of  the  ecclesiastics.  A  decided  drift  towards 
skepticism  is  marked.  Many  have  adopted  positive  rationalistic 
theories.  The  majority  of  those  who  have  turned  away  from  the 
only  form  of  Christianity  which  they  know  have  become  openly  in¬ 
different  to  religion. 

Great  progress  has  been  made  in  Mexico  since  1867  toward  the 
emancipation  of  the  people  from  the  power  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
and  in  the  establishment  of  fundamental  principles  of  religious 
liberty.  These  principles  include  the  divorcing  of  church  and  state 
and  the  taking  possession  by  the  government  of  vast  estates  which 

[26] 


were  held  in  the  name  of  the  church  but  which  were  not  used 
directly  for  ecclesiastical  purposes.  The  rights  of  free  speech,  a 
free  press,  a  speedy  public  trial  in  the  courts,  liberty  of  conscience 
in  religious  worship,  and  a  system  of  public  schools  which  is  not 
in  any  measure  under  the  control  of  the  church  or  clergy  are  added 
steps  in  the  process  of  emancipation.  All  these  sweeping  changes 
point  toward  liberty  of  thought  and  of  worship,  and  are  most  en¬ 
couraging  features  of  the  situation  in  IVTexico  as  it  relates  to  the 
progress  of  missions  in  that  country.  There  is  no  reason  why  Mex¬ 
ico  should  not  be  one  of  the  most  favorable  and  accessible  of  mis¬ 
sion  fields.  Every  opportunity  is  given  for  the  establishment  of 
Christian  institutions  and  the  spread  of  modern  ideas  of  religious 
progress  and  liberty. 

Mission  Work  in  Mexico. 

There  was  little  opportunity  for  the  preaching  of  the  simple  gos¬ 
pel  of  Jesus  Christ  in  Mexico  previous  to  1867.  The  American 
Bible  Society,  however,  distributed  many  copies  of  the  Scriptures 
in  the  country  at  the  time  of  the  Mexican  War,  and  not  without 
permanent  effect,  as  has  been  occasionally  noted  in  recent  years. 
In  1866  Miss  Melinda  Rankin,  from  Texas,  established  a  school  in 
Monterey,  and  in  connection  with  this  school  evangelical  woik  was 
begun.  In  1867  Rev.  Henry  C.  Riley  began  work  in  Mexico  City, 
under  the  direction  of  the  American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union. 
In  1872  the  Presbyterian  Church  (North)  and  the  American  Board 
established  missions  in  the  country,  and  there  followed  very  rapidly 
the  opening  of  missions  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  North,  the 
Southern  Methodist,  the  Baptists,  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians, 
the  Seventh-Day  Baptists,  and  the  Episcopalians;  in  later  years  a 
few  other  organizations  have  begun  to  carry  on  work.  These  va¬ 
rious  denominations  have  worked  in  Christian  harmony,  uniting  in 
a  Sunday-school  organization  as  well  as  in  a  federation  of  Chris¬ 
tian  societies  of  young  people. 

All  of  the  leading  missions  publish  periodicals,  which  circulate 
far  beyond  the  borders  of  the  mission  and  present  the  gospel  truth 

[27] 


and  news  of  the  outside  world  to  many  who  otherwise  would  have 
no  opportunity  of  learning  it.  The  American  Bible  Society  has  car¬ 
ried  on  and  is  still  conducting  an  extensive  colporteur  work  quite 
independent  of  any  of  the  mission  boards,  but  in  thorough  har¬ 
mony  and  cooperation  with  them  all.  All  the  missionaries  in 
Mexico  are  agreed  that  one  of  the  most  important  features  of 
Christian  work  there  is  the  wide  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  in  the 
vernacular  of  the  people. 

The  American  Board  in  Mexico. 

The  American  Board  opened  work  in  Mexico,  in  the  city  of 
Guadalajara,  in  November,  1872,  by  the  hand  of  Rev.  J.  L.  Stephens 
and  Rev.  D.  F.  Watkins.  Guadalajara  is  the  capital  of  the  State  of 
Jalisco,  the  second  city  in  size  and  importance  in  the  republic,  and 
is  beautifully  located  upon  a  lofty  plateau,  with  a  most  salubrious 
climate.  It  is  the  religious  and  commercial  center  of  western  Mex¬ 
ico.  Its  population  is  strongly  religious.  A  church  of  seventeen 
converts  was  organized  in  December  of  1873.  The  missionaries 
began  to  preach  also  in  outlying  districts,  most  favorable  interest 
being  awakened.  This  interest  became  so  marked  that  the  leaders 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  were  alarmed;  a  priest  in  the  city 
of  Ahualulco  aroused  his  people  by  an  exciting  sermon  so  that  a 
mob  was  gathered  and  Mr.  Stephens  was  assassinated,  one  of  the 
native  converts  sharing  his  fate,  while  all  were  in  great  peril.  New 
missionaries  were  sent  out  at  once  by  the  Board,  Rev.  John  Ed¬ 
wards  arriving  in  1875,  and  in  1879  Rev.  and  Mrs.  James  K.  Kil- 
bourn  were  transferred  from  Monterey.  Through  the  efforts  of 
Mr.  Watkins,  who  had  withdrawn  from  connection  with  the  Board, 
the  entire  mission  was  passed  over  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South. 

Early  in  1882  mission  work  under  the  American  Board  was 
again  organized  through  the  efforts  of  Rev.  M.  A.  Crawford  and 
wife,  Rev.  John  Howland  and  wife,  Miss  Haskins,  and  Rev.  and 
Mrs.  H.  M.  Bissell.  The  church  at  Tlajomulco,  never  having  be¬ 
come  Methodist,  was  organized  as  the  first  church  of  the  American 


[28] 


Board  in  Mexico,  after  the  interim,  and  a  new  church  was  formed 
in  Guadalajara  three  years  later.  Guadalajara  was  made  a  center 
for  work  in  the  surrounding  towns  and  cities.  Native  helpers  were 
sent  out  to  various  points,  and  day-schools  were  opened.  In  no 
other  portion  of  Mhxico,  however,  which  has  been  occupied  by  the 
missions  of  the  American  Board,  has  such  malignant  and  detei mined 
opposition  been  made  as  in  the  field  centering  about  Guadalajara. 
Monterey,  which  had  been  occupied  since  18/3,  was  finally  passed 
over  to  the  Presbyterian  Board. 

In  January,  1884,  a  small  weekly  illustrated  paper,  called  La 
Estrella  de  la  Manana  (The  Morning  Star),  was  begun  by  Mrs. 
Howland.  Three  years  later  this  gave  place  to  El  Testigo  (The 
Witness),  a  large  family  paper  which  was  edited  by  Mr.  Bissell. 
This  paper  has  been  greatly  enlarged  and  improved,  and  has  long 
been  recognized  as  a  powerful  aid  to  the  cause  of  evangelical  tiuth 
in  Mexico.  Its  present  editor  is  Mr.  Howland. 

In  1882  a  new  mission  was  commenced  at  the  capital  of  the  State 
of  Chihuahua,  with  the  city  of  Chihuahua  as  its  principal  center. 
This  was  occupied  by  Rev.  and  Mrs.  James  D.  Eaton.  At  that 
time  evangelical  Christianity  was  unknown  in  northwestern  Mex¬ 
ico.  It  was  also  a  region  which  had  been  greatly  neglected  by  the 
Roman  Church,  there  being  no  resident  bishop,  with  the  priests 
few  in  number,  while  the  population  was  large.  This  made  the 
field  a  promising  one,  as  later  results  have  shown,  although  oppo¬ 
sition  has  been  by  no  means  lacking.  In  1883  the  first  converts  in 
Chihuahua  were  baptized,  and  three  years  later  the  first  church 
was  formed,  which  has  now  become  large  and  prosperous,  with  a 
Mexican  pastor  of  its  own.  In  1884  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Alden  B.  Case 
joined  the  mission,  and  a  new  station  was  opened  by  them  in  Par- 
ral,  two  hundred  miles  south  of  the  city  of  Chihuahua,  but  in  the 
same  State.  This  station  commands  a  large  field,  in  which  the  Ro¬ 
man  Catholics  are  doing  but  little.  Great  sections  of  this  field  had 
been  wholly  neglected  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  the 
people,  having  no  religious  privileges,  were  left  to  grow  up  in  ig¬ 
norance  and  almost  in  rank  barbarism. 

[29] 


In  1886  the  Crawfords  were  transferred  from  Guadalajara  to 
Hermosillo,  the  capital  of  the  large  State  of  Sonora,  in  the  north¬ 
western  corner  of  the  republic.  This  from  the  beginning  has  been 
a  promising  center  for  work.  A  large  number  of  able  Mexican 
helpers  have  come  from  that  part  of  the  country,  and  the  growth 
of  the  church  has  been  unusually  rapid  in  comparison  wdth  the 
amount  of  labor  bestowed  upon  it. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wright  occupied  Cusihuiriachic,  eighty  miles  west 
of  Chihuahua,  in  1888,  but  were  later  transferred  to  Ciudad  Juarez 
upon  the  Rio  Grande,  just  across  the  river  from  El  Paso.  Mr. 
Wright  was  later  in  charge  of  the  Rio  Grande  Theological  Train¬ 
ing  School,  then  newly  established  in  El  Paso,  upon  the  Texas  side 
of  the  river,  for  the  training  of  a  Spanish-speaking  ministry. 

El  Fuerte,  in  the  State  of  Sinaloa,  was  opened  in  1891,  and  the 
Bissells  were  put  in  charge.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wagner  joined  the  mis¬ 
sion  in  1895,  and  for  nearly  the  whole  period  of  their  missionary 
experience  have  been  in  charge  of  the  work  at  Hermosillo. 

Originally  the  American  Board  missions  in  Mexico  were  divided 
into  the  Western  Mexican  Mission  and  the  Northern  Mexican 
Mission.  In  1891  these  two  missions  were  united  into  the  Mexican 
Mission  of  the  American  Board.  This  combination  was  in  the 
interests  of  economy  and  unity  of  administration.  At  the  present 
time  missionaries  of  the  American  Board  occupy  only  four  places 
in  the  country;  namely,  Guadalajara,  Chihuahua,  Hermosillo,  and 
Parral.  Each  one  of  these  important  places  is  a  center  of  strong 
evangelical  Christian  activity. 

Lines  of  Work. 

The  Mexican  Mission  is  carrying  on  practically  all  the  regular 
departments  of  missionary  work  except  the  medical.  Emphasis  is 
laid  at  all  points  upon  the  evangelistic  work,  through  which  the 
simple  gospel  of  Christ,  with  its  promises  and  its  claims,  is  brought 
to  the  attention  of  the  Mexicans.  As  an  auxiliary  to  this  evangel¬ 
istic  work,  and  even  an  absolutely  essential  part  of  it,  a  certain 
amount  of  education  has  been  inaugurated  in  each  one  of  the  cen- 

[30] 


ters  named,  especially  Guadalajara,  Chihuahua,  and  Parral.  It 
was  found  that  the  national  schools  did  not  furnish  a  training  suffi¬ 
cient  to  fit  a  young  man  or  a  young  woman  for  Christian  leadership 
among  this  people;  therefore  strong  boarding  schools  and  a  normal 
school  for  girls  were  established  in  the  three  places  named,  where 
the  pupils  were  brought  into  the  Christian  home  of  the  school  and 
there,  by  precept  and  example,  made  to  know  what  pure  Chris¬ 
tianity  is,  and  its  relation  to  the  lives  of  those  who  profess  it.  At 
the  same  time  these  girls  were  given  an  intellectual  training  to  fit 
them  for  positions  as  teachers  in  schools  of  lower  grade.  It  has 
been  a  source  of  encouragement  to  the  mission  that  so  many  of 
these  girls  have  been  sought  for  as  teachers  in  the  national  schools. 
Thus  wherever  these  teachers  have  gone  they  have  carried  the 
principles  of  pure  religion,  and  the  influence  of  Protestant  Chris¬ 
tianity  has  thus  been  widely  extended. 

The  girls’  schools  at  Parral  (El  Progreso)  and  Chihuahua 
(Colegio  Chihuahuense)  have  buildings  of  their  own,  while  the  one 
in  Guadalajara  (Instituto  Corona)  is  yet  in  rented  buildings.  The 
best  institutions  for  education  in  Mexico,  as  well  as  in  other  coun¬ 
tries,  demand  proper  school  buildings  in  which  to  carry  on  the 
work.  The  school  at  Chihuahua  has  done  more  in  the  line  of  nor¬ 
mal  training  than  the  others.  In  1908  it  had  166  pupils  on  its  list, 
while  the  school  at  Parral  had  253;  63  of  these  were  in  kindergarten 
and  17  in  the  English  Department.  The  educational  work  for  young 
men  has  been  more  confined  in  this  mission  to  the  training  of  men 
for  direct  Christian  service  than  in  any  other  mission  of  the  Board, 
save  one.  The  Rio  Grande  Training  School,  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made,  was  opened  at  El  Paso  in  conjunction  with 
the  Congregational  Education  Society.  It  was  transferred  in  1901 
to  Guadalajara,  where  a  new  site  has  been  purchased;  and  through 
the  beneficence  of  a  warm  friend  of  the  work  suitable  buildings  are 
being  provided  for  the  permanent  purposes  of  the  school.  From 
this  school  have  come  the  preachers,  pastors,  and  leaders,  not  only 
in  our  own  mission,  but  in  some  of  the  other  missions  working  in 
Mexico.  The  importance  of  the  school  cannot  be  overestimated 

[31] 


when  we  plan  for  the  future  of  Protestant  work  in  that  country. 
The  school  is  now  under  the  charge  of  Rev.  John  Howland. 

There  are  six  stations  of  the  American  Board  mission  in  Mexico, 
only  four  of  which  are  at  present  occupied  by  resident  missionaries. 
There  are  fifteen  missionaries  in  the  country,  and  six  ordained 
Mexican  pastors,  with  two  preachers  and  twenty  Mexican  teachers, 
making  a  total  of  twenty-nine  trained  Mexicans  who  are  working, 
together  with  the  missionaries,  for  the  evangelization  of  that  coun¬ 
try.  The  twenty-four  organized  Protestant  churches  in  connection 
with  this  mission  have  over  fifteen  hundred  communicants,  with 
three  thousand  besides  who  are  regarded  as  adherents;  that  is,  who 
are  attendants  upon  Christian  worship  and  who  have  identified 
themselves  with  the  Protestant  movement.  Three  of  these  churches 
are  entirely  self-supporting,  the  Mexicans  themselves  paying  all 
the  cost  of  their  up-keep  and  the  support  of  their  pastors.  There 
are  nearly  seven  hundred  Mexican  youths  under  instruction  in  the 
schools.  Perhaps  one  of  the  strongest  indications  of  the  hold  this 
work  has  upon  the  Mexicans  is  the  fact  that  last  year  the  people 
themselves  paid  for  the  support  of  their  own  work,  both  educa¬ 
tional  and  evangelistic,  $12,494. 

This  work  of  the  American  Board  in  the  Republic  of  Mexico 
has  been  established  with  great  sacrifice  and  labor;  it  is  the  re¬ 
sult  of  much  effort  and  many  prayers.  Gradually  barriers  have 
given  way,  and  little  by  little  the  field  has  opened,  until  to-day 
there  is  slight  opposition  and  we  are  free  to  place  preachers  and 
pastors  and  teachers,  and  to  open  schools,  in  any  part  of  the  vast 
fields  we  occupy,  without  any  special  hindrance.  There  is  still 
some  persecution  for  those  who  separate  themselves  from  the  Old 
Church,  and  continued  opposition  upon  the  part  of  the  ecclesias¬ 
tics  to  evangelical  effort;  but  it  is  not  sufficient  to  deter  those  who 
engage  in  the  work  or  to  prevent  the  continual  and  healthful  growth 
of  the  Protestant  communities.  These  represent  the  spirit  of  en¬ 
lightenment  and  inquiry,  and  this  spirit  has  entered  our  sister  re¬ 
public  to  abide.  It  must  result,  and  can  result,  only  in  an  enlight¬ 
ened  republic,  with  an  open  gospel  and  a  free  church. 

[32] 


